The grave of Ustad Mir Baksh ‘Tanras’ Khan is in a bad state and out of the way in the Nampally area of Hyderabad. He was the court singer for the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II and a great figure in Hindustani classical music. This great musician from the Delhi gharana was known for his quick and lively “taans.” He left the capital city for Gwalior after the Sepoy uprising and the emperor’s exile, and then he settled in the Nizam’s court in Hyderabad. However, the place where this great singer was buried near Khamosh Shah Dargah in the Nampally area is now completely forgotten and can’t be reached by regular people or artists. Music lovers and artists have asked Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to fix up the grave and hold a music event every year in his honor to honor his life.

In the 1800s, Ustad Mir Qutub Baksh “Tanras” Khan was a khayal singer. He was given the title of “Tanras” by the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II, who was an artist and a great Sufi. He was the emperor’s music teacher and also the band leader for the royal court. He was very good at both Qawwali and Hindustani Classical music. He was seen as one of the leaders of the famous Qawwal Bacchon ka Gharana, which was started by Amir Khusrau. He wrote a lot of khayals, bandishes, and taranas that artists in the Indian region still sing today. Tanras’s famous and well-known song “Ab mori naiyya paar karo” is sung in the raag Todi.

Another great musician, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan of the Patiala gharana, was also buried in Hyderabad. As a side note, Mir Qutub Baksh ‘Tanras’ Khan taught music to Mian Kallu, who started the Patiala gharana. But not many people know about his tomb, which is near the Khamosh Shah Dargah in Nampally. During the pandemic, musician and head of the Parichay Arts Foundation Jaywant Naidu went looking for the tomb of the great master. It took him a long time to find it. A simple granite plaque marked his grave. It was likely put up by Qawwals Najmuddin and Saifuddin, who are from Pakistan and are the sons of Qawwal Bahauddin Khan and the relatives of Tanras Khan. They were in Hyderabad on vacation. Some of his children and grandchildren moved to Pakistan to carry on his singing heritage, but the rest decided to stay in the United States.

Because of this, Naidu has asked the Chief Minister to bring it back to its past glory. “This is an appeal to Sri Revanth Reddy, the Chief Minister of Telangana, to bring back the lost glory of this great figure in classical music by giving everyone a proper place to rest and access to the ‘Tomb.'” It was suggested that every year a big event of classical and sufi music should be held to honor Ustad Mir Qutub Baksh Tanras Khan and show what he did for art and culture, he said.